You don’t have to like him. You don’t have to support him. You don’t have to agree with anything he has said or done. 

The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump Saturday was horrific, immoral, ungodly, and cannot be justified by any reasonable stretch of logic. 

It does not matter for whom you voted previously, nor for whom you plan to vote this year. Hatred like this has no proper place in the human heart.

I am grieved for the wounded and for the families of the slain. I am grieved that this took place at all.

People are pointing fingers, hurling blame, spewing vitriol, not realizing that for some of them, their hatred is on the same level as that of the man who squeezed the trigger. 

As a person thinks, so they are. 

Inevitably, the perpetrator in this crime will be deemed mentally unhinged, emotionally distraught or disconnected, left-wing or right-wing extremist, connected to some fringe or main-stream group known for violence … or spoken of as a quiet, nice young man who mainly kept to himself. The truth may be found in some of that, but I believe the root cause is much deeper, much more foundational, and much more sinister.

It is a spiritual problem.

Whether you are a Christian or not, when we as humans are so focused on ourselves, our problems, our nationality, our political affiliation, our biases, our preferences, our beliefs on how things should be organized, on government, etc., that we lose sight of God … things like this happen.

If I was the one who pulled the trigger, I would be the one to blame.

If I was the one who helped instill hatred in the heart of the man, or fan its flames, I would be the one to blame.

If I was the one who said senseless, hateful things on social media behind the obvious lie of anonymity — things that influenced this man’s heart and mind — I would be the one to blame.

If I have done nothing except cross my arms and lament the state of the world without doing a thing to attempt to change it — starting with myself, then my family, my neighbors, my community, and so on — I would be the one to blame.

Are you one of the ones to blame? Am I?

Don’t dismiss it so quickly. At least have the honesty and humility to ask yourself the question. 

God forgive us all. God have mercy on us all. 

May God give healing and comfort to each as needed, and may we work to be a better nation, one truly under God.

News editor Brett Campbell can be reached at brett.campbell@dailyleader.com.